An attorney representing West Village and Chelsea block associations filed a lawsuit against the city Friday, charging that the city’s plan to give buses priority on 14th Street will cause “horrific traffic jams” in the surrounding area.
“If you take traffic off 14th Street it goes onto the side streets. It’s not going to disappear,” said attorney Arthur Schwartz, himself a resident of 12th Street in the West Village, who filed the suit in Manhattan Supreme Court.
“They should have evaluated this under the state environmental review act or city law.”
Starting July 1, the city will restrict access to five blocks of Manhattan’s 14th Street to buses, trucks with three or more axles, delivery vehicles and local residents.
City officials have said they expect traffic to increase on nearby streets but argue it’s worth it to improve bus travel times. Buses on 14th Street carry nearly 30,000 riders per day, often at a snail’s pace.
A spokesperson for the city’s law department said the suit has “no merit.”
“DOT followed all applicable procedures and should be allowed to complete this initiative,” Nicholas Paolucci said.
Speaking to The Post, Schwartz asserted that there are “no” complaints about bus speeds on the strip.
Rider advocates say that’s wrong – and that Schwartz and company are ignoring the needs of commuters who don’t live in his neighborhood.
“Chelsea and Greenwich Village rely on low-wage service workers who endure punishing commutes from neighborhoods they can afford to live in,” said Riders Alliance Policy and Communications Director Danny Pearlstein. “These New Yorkers need transit to get to work late at night, on the weekend, 24/7. They can’t afford to repeatedly sue the city when they don’t get their way.”